I’m back in Naperville, IL counting down the days until the big departure date. My countdown consists of when I’m leaving to go visit Leia in LA (10 days), and when I’m leaving the country (14 days). In two weeks time, I’ll be basking in the Merida sun in Mexico. It still does not seem real.
My last weeks in NYC were hard, at best. I took advantage of all of my friends who gave up their sleep time to stay out with me until 4am on many an occasion! Katie even gave up two whole weeks of going to the gym to stay by my side, like a sleeping baby in my palm like a leaf. Saying goodbye to my work friends was impossible, and I managed to go all out at my “see you later” party. It’s nice having co-workers who bought me shots of Patron to make the goodbyes so much easier. I don’t need to say much more about leaving NYC (for the time-being anyway). It clearly just wasn’t fun. I’m going to miss everyone so much!!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
I’ll leave the paragraph with a great Thomas Wolfe quote: “One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”
Being back with my family/home friends is great too though and just had an awesome weekend with Katie & Greg & Annie & Tom in Chi-town. We played tourist the whole time and went on the double decker bus tour with the best tour guide ever- Betty, who even showed us such important Chicago landmarks as the Indian restaurant to our left, the McDonald’s to our right, the Chinese restaurant to our left, and the bullet hole you rub your finger inside for good luck to the right. She was incredible!!! We spent a lot of time in my parents loft in Bucktown, about which Tom said, “I like this loft so much, I think it’s mine.” Direct quote!! While wandering around Old Town, we were astounded at the crazy bargains of real estate in Chi-town compared to NYC. It’s like half the price!!! Unbelievable.
As far as trip preparation goes, I’ve been really buckling down and getting stuff done. First off, I totally chopped my hair off! 12 inches to Locks of Love. 
I was really nervous to do it, since I loved having long hair, even if it was “scraggly,” but am thrilled that it’s gone. It’s so travel-friendly and will certainly make washing it easier in those freezing cold showers! Besides from giving up some hair, I’ve also pretty much have my bag all packed. I’m still working on getting rid of some stuff, but I think I’m pretty close. My medicine is the real problem! I’m all squared away with my clothing (very little of it!) but 7 months of malaria pills sure take up a lot of room, on top of my allergy pills & everything else. Need to work on that. My friend Sheli who I traveled the east coast of Australia with said we can stay with her in Buenos Aires, so I might mail some stuff I won’t need until January there to pick up. That will be very helpful.
Nothing else really exciting to report, so I’ll leave it at that for now. You can always email me at jillylawrence@gmail.com too and I’ll do my best to get back to you from the road, but I’m going to try to not be addicted to internet cafes as I’m traveling. Please write anyway though! A lot!!!
xoxox
